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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

High-Pressure NMR Experiments for Detecting Protein Low-Lying Conformational States
Published on: June 29, 2021
Adaptation of the base-paired double-helix molecular architecture to extreme pressure
Eric Girard1, Thierry Prangé, Anne-Claire Dhaussy
1Synchrotron-SOLEIL, L'Orme des Merisiers, Saint-Aubin, BP 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France. eric.girard@synchrotron-soleil.fr
Abstract:
The behaviour of the d(GGTATACC) oligonucleotide has been investigated by X-ray crystallography at 295 K in the range from ambient pressure to 2 GPa (approximately 20,000 atm). Four 3D-structures of the A-DNA form (at ambient pressure, 0.55, 1.09 and 1.39 GPa) were refined at 1.60 or 1.65 A resolution. In addition to the diffraction pattern of the A-form, the broad meridional streaks previously explained by occluded B-DNA octamers within the channels of the crystalline A-form matrix were observed up to at least 2 GPa. This work highlights an important property of nucleic acids, their capability to withstand very high pressures, while keeping in such conditions a nearly invariant geometry of base pairs that store and carry genetic information. The double-helix base-paired architecture behaves as a molecular spring, which makes it especially adapted to very harsh conditions. These features may have contributed to the emergence of a RNA World at prebiotic stage.
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